Growing up in Northshire, a lot of your life revolves around the Abbey. Northshire Abbey is one of the last great bastion of human culture, with a dedicated — if somewhat eccentric — group of learned scholars consumed with preserving and teaching the arts of human civilization.

Needless to say, me and my siblings had to sit through a lot of etiquette classes. A LOT. Priestess Anetta was bound and determined that we would know how to act appropriately in any social setting, no matter how high or how low. And while I may not always behave with courtier’s manners, the rules are firmly burned into my brain.

So, it is with some dismay that I see so many of my fellow comrades-in-arms behave so abominably on the battlefield. It doesn’t matter if you’re Horde or Alliance; true heroes conduct themselves with dignity no matter how brutal the fight has been.

Don’t /spit. Ever. It’s gross.

Don’t desecrate your opponent’s corpse. It’s not merely barbaric; doing so is a sign of insecurity, of feeling that killing them is not good enough, that you still have something to prove. You’ve already beaten them. Let it go.

If you’re going to taunt, flag. Insults are an accepted part of a fight, but always give your opponent a chance to retaliate. Hiding behind a PvE flag while taunting is cowardly and despicable. It says, I am too afraid of you to insult you without immunity.

You’re stronger than that. Be proud of your skills and dare them to strike first.

Don’t insult your teammates. Ever. Yes, even when they fight in the road. They may be new, they may be clueless, they may not take the game as seriously as you do — but they do not deserve your abuse. Help them become better. Lead them. Ask: “what went wrong there? Why did we leave that unguarded?”, not: “WTF YOU NOOB gtfo and l2p!”

If nothing else, people will listen to you if you treat them with a measure of respect. Railing at them is a poor way to change their minds.

Thank the people who help you out. I remain amazed at how few people thank the healers in a battleground. Is it that hard to thank the people who save your life?

This also goes for people who sacrifice personal glory and defend strategic points. Very few battlegrounds can be won without a good defense, and it can be a thankless job. There’s an easy fix for that: /ty.

So there you have it: five simple rules of etiquette. Keep them in mind when you next venture into a battleground, and make your honorable kills actually honorable. You no longer have the excuse of missing Priestess Anetta’s interminable lectures.

5 responses to “A PvP Etiquette Primer”

Regarding #4, I was in an AB last night where someone was badmouthing the whole team. If he had spent more time fighting and less time typing, I have a feeling we would’ve won.

I’d also add don’t camp graveyards. I think that’s pretty bush league. If you wanna cut them off at a chokepoint like their starting gate or something, that’s one thing, but standing in a GY and poppin’ people as they respawn is kinda lame.

Good point about camping graveyards, Misneach. That one is so ingrained I forgot to mention it. Same goes for new players zoning into the BG; I always feel bad when I hit an incoming in the WSG flag room accidentally.